<\/p>\n
Two of our members had attended an Amnesty International UK evening devoted to the problem of Human Trafficking.\u00a0 Moved by what they saw and inspired to ‘do something’, the\u00a0decision to stage a local conference on the subject was taken.<\/p>\n
Our aim\u00a0was to inform delegates\u00a0– not only\u00a0about the horrifying statitistics of this global trade in human lives, but also highlight\u00a0the wonderful work\u00a0of a wide range of charities and initiatives that strive to stop the trade and\/or support the victims.\u00a0 We hope\u00a0delegates were\u00a0inspired to make a difference too.<\/p>\n
The day was jam packed with information and unfortuntaely space doesn’t allow us to report everything word for word.\u00a0\u00a0However,\u00a0the following conference reports\u00a0have very kindly been submitted by two of the delegates.\u00a0 I urge you to read them.<\/p>\n
REPORT<\/strong> ON<\/strong> SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF EPSOM\u2019S TRAFFICKING CONFERENCE:\u00a0 11 SEPTEMBER 2010 AT LEATHERHEAD LEISURE CENTRE<\/strong><\/p>\n There were approx 130 delegates.<\/p>\n Following a welcome by Barbara Watts<\/strong>, President, SI Epsom and District the Rt. Hon Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell and Minister of State for Department of Work and Pensions <\/strong>gave the introduction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n He commended the Club for organising the conference on such a subject, which was one of the four big international crimes (trafficking, drugs, arms and animals).\u00a0 It was the most brutal as it was the exploitation of the least able:<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 into the sex trade against the victims\u2019 wishes<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 using children<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 labour slaves (domestic servitude, cannabis farming etc).<\/p>\n Gangs were operating in several European countries.\u00a0 It takes joint effort to fight back on traffickers.<\/p>\n He said that the Government, through the all-party Parliamentary Group on the Trafficking of women and children, until recently chaired by Anthony Steen, MP, was doing much to raise the awareness of the scourge of human trafficking in the UK.<\/p>\n He could not comprehend that traffickers were trafficking women and children from their own towns and families.\u00a0 The UK welfare systems were being exploited; in particular disabled were being brought in to the country to abuse the disabled benefits system.<\/p>\n Victims were being trafficked to more than one country \u2013 to the UK, onto Spain and Italy etc.<\/p>\n What can we do?\u00a0 We need to challenge those in authority including MPs.<\/p>\n Those who are passionate about the subject should keep talking and keep up the pressure.<\/p>\n Be \u2018eyes and ears\u2019 as it could be happening next door.<\/p>\n The community should say \u2018we won\u2019t have it here\u2019.<\/p>\n Hilary Ratcliffe<\/strong>, Federation Programme Director for Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland, chaired the day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The morning was entitled \u2018Trafficking \u2013 what\u2019s the problem?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n She introduced the following speakers:<\/p>\n i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pauline Monk, SI Poole \u2013 The Purple Teardrop Campaign<\/strong>(working to end human trafficking), who said that Chris Grayling had encapsulated everything.\u00a0 Trafficking was big business being a question of supply and demand.<\/p>\n The need was to reduce the demand for women and girls and support the charities helping those who had been rescued.<\/p>\n She said that although the official trafficking definition was long and complex the essence was \u2018does the person have the freedom to walk away from the situation\u2019.<\/p>\n Trafficking was now a \u00a332 million illicit industry worldwide with markets for supplying travel documents, arranging transport and recruiting victims.\u00a0 Poor communities were targeted with an estimate of approx 1.2 million people being trafficked annually (2007 figures).\u00a0 80% of those were women and girls into the sex industry; 50% of which were children.\u00a0 The demand in recent years has increased by 3 to 11%.<\/p>\n There are lots of adverts in newspapers, magazines, shops, toilets, telephone boxes etc.\u00a0 Why should these be allowed?\u00a0 Currently there is no enforceable legislation.<\/p>\n The nature of contemporary slavery on the UK is sex exploitation and forced labour.<\/p>\n Undoubtedly in 2012 with the Olympic Games being held in the UK there will be an increase.<\/p>\n Figures from the National Referral Mechanism (set up under the European Convention on Trafficking) give that 59 to 80% are from non-EU countries.\u00a0 But, victims are only included if they volunteer to go onto the system.<\/p>\n Recent Police operations have included Pentameter 2 (in Dorset) and Operation Icefall (in Surrey \u2013 resulting in 7 women being rescued from a \u00a31million business).<\/p>\n There are only a few safe houses in the UK:<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poppy Project with 54 beds<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Salvation Army with 6 beds<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Medaille Trust with 6 beds<\/p>\n These have assisted 95 people in the last three years from the 700 victims rescued.\u00a0 There is a great disparity.<\/p>\n ii)\u00a0\u00a0 Christine Beddoe, Director of ECPAT<\/strong> (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children), who said that ECPAT was part of an international network of 70 countries.\u00a0 It was established in the UK in 1993.<\/p>\n ECPAT works with the parliamentary cross party group on child trafficking.<\/p>\n There is no centralised data in the UK about child trafficking.\u00a0 There had been several scoping studies (eg in rural Walesand Northern Ireland) where cases had been identified, thus proving that such activities do not only happen in large conurbations.<\/p>\n The first prosecution of child domestic servitude in the UK was against an accountant and his teacher wife!<\/p>\n There is the issue of what happens to the children when they get older \u2013 they are usually abandoned, are vulnerable and certainly have no documents.\u00a0 They will have been groomed to tell a different story.\u00a0 If they are found in an immigration raid they are likely to be thrown into a detention centre and then deported.\u00a0 Support to such victims is very patchy.\u00a0 There is no foster care.\u00a0 They are put into semi-independent accommodation if they are over 16.\u00a0 There are no safe houses for children.\u00a0 Safe accommodation has not been fully debated.\u00a0 ECPAT would like to see foster care for up to 18 years old.<\/p>\n There is a current Early Day Motion (EDM 513 – GUARDIANSHIP FOR CHILD VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING).\u00a0 The new Government has decided not to opt onto the new EU Directive against sex trafficking as it feels that they have done sufficient at this time.\u00a0 The UK could opt in at a later date.\u00a0 The Directive goes further than the 2008 Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.<\/p>\n iii)\u00a0 Jane Coppock, Barnardo\u2019s<\/strong>, runs sexual exploitation support in Croydon, but also covers the whole of London.\u00a0 There are two others \u2013 Hampshire and in the north.<\/p>\n Barnardo\u2019s works in various partnerships and accepts referrals from anyone and everywhere.\u00a0 Its main aim is to raise awareness covering in schools, in the media, in faith groups.<\/p>\n Safe accommodation is the most important for such victims.<\/p>\n Barnardo\u2019s hopes that the current spending cuts do not affect the service too much.<\/p>\n Be vigilant.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n iv)\u00a0 A Det. Con. From the Metropolitan Police SCD9 (Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Unit)<\/strong>, who is an undercover Police Officer and has worked against trafficking for 20 years.\u00a0 He took part in Operation Icefall.<\/p>\n He reported that the current debt bondage was much lower than years ago, when it would have been \u00a330k (which meant that the woman\/girl would have had to earn \u00a360k).<\/p>\n He works with organisations in other countries to help when the trafficked victims are repatriated.\u00a0 They are helped to be re-housed, given support etc.\u00a0 He also helps to raise awareness.\u00a0 The police also work with the airlines and ferry companies.<\/p>\n An investigation starts with intelligence being received, followed by observation and surveillance including going through rubbish bins to find luggage labels, flight tickets etc.\u00a0 Visits as clients are made (with payment) which are all recorded where the women\/girls are talked to about how they could be helped.\u00a0\u00a0 When an arrest is made the victims are rescued and taken to a reception centre, where further information is gathered.\u00a0 If they are to give evidence they are brought back to the UK, travelling with a police officer and case worker.<\/p>\n There must be something wrong still as after 20 years the situation is worse!<\/p>\n The morning closed with a Question and Answer Session, <\/strong>with questions about:<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Diplomatic immunity<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exposure of those who pay for sex<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SARCs \u2013 the Sexual Assault Referral Centres, which all local authorities should have<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Children being \u2018lost\u2019 from children\u2019s homes<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Living in a culture of disbelief and apathy<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No Pentameter 3<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Using EDM to write to MPs to urge them to write to the Minister<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Research need into ritual killings<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Need for National Curriculum content on trafficking for secondary schools<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 18th<\/sup> October to be UK National Anti-Slavery Day<\/p>\n The afternoon was entitled \u2018So what can we do about it?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Film \u2018Two Little Girls\u2019 <\/strong>produced by Ruth Beni and Maggie Baxter<\/p>\n The short film directed by Ruth Beni had been produced for WOMANKIND, which \u00a0works to secure women\u2019s rights and make their voices heard, initially to be used in Albania\u00a0through distribution to schools, community groups, woman\u2019s organisations and churches.\u00a0 The animated film follows the stories of two young women who are cruelly deceived by loved ones and are trafficked into prostitution against their will.<\/p>\n Their stories reflect the two most common ways Eastern European women and girls are tricked and lured from their homes by people they know and trust.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s impact is maximised as it starts with a fairytale feel but ends in stark monochrome reality to emphasise its serious message.<\/p>\n ii)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Body Shop global anti-trafficking petition<\/strong> was presented by Zoe Cook \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0and JessieMacNeil-Brown from the Body Shop, which is partnering with ECPAT.\u00a0 It is a 3 year campaign to stop sex trafficking of children and young people and was launched at St Pancras International railway station in 2009, which is a hub for trafficking.\u00a0 It has gathered support in more than 40 countries. In summer 2010 a petition was launched calling upon governments to implement strict anti-trafficking policies and legislation including a system of guardian ship, and dedicate more resources to help victims of trafficking. \u00a0In 2011 they anticipate presenting the petitions to the United Nations.<\/p>\n iii)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Purple Teardrop Campaign petition<\/strong> is planning a series of lobbies aimed at improving current legislation and or the identification, protection and support of victims of human trafficking.\u00a0 A petition to Parliament is being launched to ban, advertising for sexual exploitation for gain and profit.<\/p>\n iv)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Peter Cox, Chair of Croydon Community Against Trafficking<\/strong> (CCAT), explained that CCAT was founded four years ago and now has 1000 members (50 of which are active participants).\u00a0 Its aim is to raise awareness, campaign decision makers, educate, understand and do more and assist in setting up more CATs.<\/p>\n CCAT are vigilant in Croydon and look for possible houses \u2013 lots of pizza boxes outside is usually a sure sign.\u00a0 Premium price adverts are phoned (by male members).<\/p>\n There is a lot of talk politically but with very little action.<\/p>\n v)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anne-Marie Izenring, Women\u2019s Director of Central Asia Ladies Ministry <\/strong>(CALM), said that she was encouraged (in a negative way) as the position appeared not to be much better in the UK as in central Asia.<\/p>\n She reported that:<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 AIDS is growing rapidly in central Asia<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Abortion is the main birth control under communism<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Baby trafficking is on the increase for adoption rings and also for body parts<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was bride\/wife napping<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018shame\u2019 issues were big in central Asia within Islam communities<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are no safe houses<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uzbekistan trafficked women and girls to Thailand, Turkey, Dubai, India<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the traffickers were women<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Street children were living in the sewers and were vulnerable to being trafficked<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Central Asian men were addicted to pornography and that is why they visited prostitutes<\/p>\n A short Q & A followed.<\/p>\n In summing up the day<\/strong>, Hilary Ratcliffe, urged delegates to:<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be the eyes and ears in the community<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t walk away from the problem<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sign EDM 513 and write to their MP<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Combat disbelief and apathy<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remember the UK Anti-slavery Day on\u00a0 18th<\/sup> October and don\u2019t forget the UN Anti-slavery Day on 25th<\/sup> November<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sign the Body Shop petition<\/p>\n To end the day, Hattie<\/strong>, a young student the read the poem \u2018Red Light Child\u2019<\/strong> \u00a0written by Malika Ndlovu (commissioned for the Western Cape launch of the 2010 Red Light Campaign against Child Trafficking<\/em>)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Joyce Boorman<\/strong><\/p>\n SI Ipswich and District<\/p>\n 18 September 2010<\/p>\n <\/p>\n = = = = = = = = = = = =<\/p>\n The following is an account of the morning session:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Soroptimist International of Epsom and District<\/strong><\/p>\n Trafficking Conference<\/strong><\/p>\n 11th<\/sup> September 2010.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Barbara Watts<\/strong> (President SI Epsom & District) welcomed everyone to the conference.\u00a0 Approximately 140 women and men attended from various organisations.\u00a0 There was a short introduction by Hilary Ratcliffe<\/strong> (Federation Programme Director, SIGBI).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During the morning session the speakers were:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (1)\u00a0 <\/strong>The Rt\u00a0 Hon Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell<\/strong><\/p>\n (2)\u00a0 <\/strong>Pauline Monk, SI Poole and Purple Teardrop Campaign <\/strong><\/p>\n (3)\u00a0 <\/strong>Christine Beddoe, Director of ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children)<\/strong><\/p>\n (4)\u00a0 <\/strong>Jane Coppock, Barnardo\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n (5)\u00a0 <\/strong>A Det. Cons. From the\u00a0 Met. Police SCD9 (Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Unit)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In opening the Conference, Chris Grayling<\/strong> thanked Barbara and the Soroptimist team for organising the event.\u00a0 He said that trafficking is one of the biggest international crimes, together with drugs, illegal animal products, etc. and is probably one of the most brutal of them.\u00a0 He outlined the sorts of trafficking that take place, e.g. for prostitution and slave labour and where it takes place.\u00a0 He said that\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 communities need to begin to fight back.\u00a0 He had met a group of people in Rumania who have been trafficking children from their own town, sometimes from their own families, for domestic slavery and to exploit our welfare system.\u00a0 He said he could not understand how they could do this to members of their own family.\u00a0 One gang was operating in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy \u2013 it is a very complicated web.\u00a0 The cost to the women, children and possibly disabled people is appalling.\u00a0 We need to be aware of what is going on in our local community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He said that we want two things to come out of the day:\u00a0 firstly, do not forget this important issue and the other thing is to get the local community to say \u2018\u201dWe will not have trafficking going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pauline Monk<\/strong> talked about the Purple Teardrop Campaign.\u00a0 She said that trafficking is big business and she stressed that we need to act to reduce the demand for the abuse of women and children.\u00a0 The money raised by the sale of badges for the Purple Teardrop Campaign goes to help the victims.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She said that of the definitions of trafficking, the most descriptive is modern-day slavery.\u00a0 From the UN Convention against trans-national organised crime, a good bench-mark is whether the person can walk away; if they cannot, they are being enslaved.\u00a0 She told the story of Marta as an example of the way in which women can be tricked into coming here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The global situation: sex trafficking is arguably the most lucrative industry world-wide.\u00a0 There are other jobs connected with trafficking, e.g. marketing and producing false documents.\u00a0 Forced labour goes into what we buy.\u00a0 Statistics are difficult to obtain for a number of reasons, but it is believed that 1.2 million people are trafficked annually inside their own country or internationally; 2.45 million trafficking victims are in exploitative conditions; 80% are women and girls.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The reasons why sex trafficking is increasing are:<\/p>\n the number of men paying for sex has increased.\u00a0 This demand is being increased by the proliferation of advertisements in newspapers and elsewhere that publicise women and girls\u00a0 for sex. Sex for sale is publicised on the internet.\u00a0 We do not allow drug dealers or people selling guns to advertise in local papers, but we encourage demand for trafficking by allowing advertisements for sex.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Lack of evidence for prosecution:\u00a0 it is not an offence to be a prostitute but is an offence to keep a brothel or to make a financial gain from prostitution.\u00a0 It is difficult to collect evidence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The nature of contemporary slavery in Britain is mainly for sexual exploitation or forced labour.\u00a0 Trafficking may increase during the 2012 Olympics unless preventative measures are in place. The statistics we have are only made up from women who have agreed to go through a national referral system, but they do show a gender balance of 74% women.\u00a0 Locally, Operation Pentameter was carried out in Dorset and Operation Icefall in Surrey.\u00a0 In the UK safe houses are run by the Poppy Project, the Salvation Army and Medaille Trust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christine Beddoe<\/strong> said that ECPAT, which was established in Thailand in 1990, is a campaigning organisation which is persistent and robust.\u00a0 They advise the all-party parliamentary campaign on trafficking.\u00a0 Both boys and girls are victims of child trafficking.\u00a0 As there is no centralised data collection system, we just do not know the nature and scale of the problem.\u00a0 The numbers going through the National Referral System are very small but research projects done in the past show that professionals were aware of over 80 children in the north known or suspected to have been trafficked.\u00a0 Elsewhere, similar figures have been shown and it does not just happen in urban areas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The majority of children trafficked in the UK are exploited into domestic servitude as house slaves.\u00a0 They may be sleeping in a shed, they are made to work from dawn to dusk.\u00a0 With sex trafficking, we can say the traffickers are criminals, but often people using children are operational professionals, such as accountants and teachers.\u00a0 It could be taking place in our street.\u00a0 Many of these children are abandoned when they get to 16 or 18 and have no papers; they may go on to become sex slaves.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The services dealing with them are extremely patchy and the system failure in the United Kingdom is unbelievable.\u00a0 There is no safe accommodation for children.\u00a0 ECPAT would like foster accommodation to be available for all trafficked children and is putting forward Early Day Motion 513 about guardianship of trafficked children.\u00a0 The current government has chosen has chosen not to opt onto the EU Directive on Trafficking which extends the definition to include other things.\u00a0 We should be a European or even a world leader in tackling trafficking, but we are not.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jane Coppock <\/strong>runs sexual exploitation awareness meetings in Croydon for Barnardo\u2019s.\u00a0 They are a specialist service which sadly consists of only one support worker in that borough because of the difficulty in attracting funding.\u00a0 Barnardo\u2019s currently has three centres in the UK and they believe effective communication is vital.\u00a0 They provide awareness training for schools, GPs, faith groups and children\u2019s services and use a child-centred approach.\u00a0 One of the biggest issues is safe accommodation. Jane read the story of Mariam, a real story from a child in Hampshire, who was forced into slavery by family members.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Police Officer<\/strong> with 25 years service and 20 years working with trafficked women spoke about his work.\u00a0 In the early 1990s women were being trafficked from Brazil.\u00a0 Today they come from a wide range of countries. There is a set price of \u00a320 for sex in Soho today and the women often have debt bondage of \u00a360,000 to pay off.\u00a0 When rescued, some women do want to go home and the Police arrange to have somebody to meet them on their arrival in their own countries to give them support.\u00a0 We heard about a case in Hounslow where the traffickers received 18-year sentences.\u00a0 The Police are doing as much as they can to raising awareness of trafficking issues.\u00a0 Domestic servitude is rife but may be a sensitive issue because of there are often diplomatic connections.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Police Officer talked about how an investigation is carried out.\u00a0 They receive intelligence from an informer or look for advertisements at the back of newspapers.\u00a0 If necessary advertisements are translated to find out what is being offered.\u00a0 They then set up surveillance operations and if necessary visit the women as clients \u2013 paying, but without using their services.\u00a0 Credit cards are an acceptable form of payment as well as cash.\u00a0\u00a0 Once they have acquired enough evidence, they take the women to a safe and secure location and treat them sensitively and appropriately.\u00a0 Where they can get further evidence through disclosures from the victims about the traffickers and the way in which they operate, it can enable the Police to achieve more meaningful sentences for the traffickers when they are sent for trial.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trafficked women may return to their home countries, but they are escorted them back to the UK to give evidence to the court. The Police Officer said that he wanted to prevent these women being trafficked in the first place \u2013 we need to make people more aware.\u00a0 We really need to work with the countries of origin and the airlines to improve the current situation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Question and Answer Session.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The following answers were given to questions from the floor:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is not in general a problem with prosecuting a professional person; a doctor\u2019s wife was recently prosecuted.\u00a0 Where there is diplomatic immunity, prosecutions become very difficult.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The police have a duty of care to everybody, including families, which is why not every prosecution is publicised.\u00a0 Demand is a massive problem, kept up by advertisements.\u00a0 In the Republic of Ireland there is legislation to outlaw any advertising or promotion of sexual services.\u00a0 The most useful thing for people attending the conference to do would be to get advertising banned.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were about 64 safe houses in all.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of the really important things is to be vigilant about the impact of cuts in financial resources and law enforcement.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We need to ask local authorities to make sure we keep provision of SARC.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The difficulty of losing children from care: leaflets have been published in Ireland and are to be distributed in the countries from which the children come.\u00a0 There is sometimes a communication issue and we need to work together.\u00a0 Most of the children have no family in the UK, so there is nobody to follow up any ongoing investigation; although it remains on the books, there is no-one working in the child\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sir Paul Beresford urged everyone to write to his or her MP setting out their concerns regarding paedophilia, along the lines of an Early Day Motion.<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The UK is doing a lot of work with Roma children.\u00a0 The new EU legislation (which the UK government has opted out of) gives the possibility of working across borders.\u00a0 The UK Government believes it is already doing enough and did not opt in because it is doing pretty well (from the Home Office website).<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Annual Anti-slavery Day is to be held on the 18th<\/sup> October this year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last year, SI Members were invited to an exclusive LexisNexis private screening of the film ‘Holly.\u00a0 The following is a brief report.\u00a0\u00a0We came away knowing that our Conference would be even more meaningful.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2018HOLLY’ <\/strong><\/p>\n Prince Charles Cinema<\/p>\n 1st<\/sup> December 2009<\/p>\n Marlene Teiwel and Barbara Watts, members of SI Epsom, attended the premiere screening of the film, which was sponsored by LexisNexis. The event was a positive initiative by the company to raise awareness of people trafficking and especially the world-wide abuse of children in the sex industry.<\/p>\n =========<\/p>\n We were taken on a harrowing journey.<\/p>\n The film portrayed the tragic story of a twelve-year old girl, Holly<\/em>, who was held in a brothel in Cambodia, having been sold by her impoverished Vietnamese family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute.\u00a0 Because she was a virgin she was more \u2018valuable’, as a high price could be asked of her first client.<\/p>\n Holly<\/em> is a feisty young girl and the actress playing the part conveyed the disgust, anger, terror and all other emotions with great conviction and yet she still managed to portray the anguish of this child in a very genuine and understated way.<\/p>\n The impossible situation in which Holly<\/em> finds herself is made shockingly clear by Patrick<\/em>, who finding himself lodging in the \u2018hotel’, befriends the child and eventually tries to rescue her.<\/p>\n At one stage Patrick<\/em> finds himself tricked into going to a family home and invited to have sex with a girl-child no more than seven or eight as her parents looked on.\u00a0He is appalled and bolts!\u00a0An older ‘punter’ could see nothing wrong in having sex with under-age girls, even though he has a daughter himself.\u00a0 There was graphic evidence of corruption within the police force and physical abuse by the \u2018minders’ of the girls.\u00a0 When Holly<\/em> is being transported from one brothel to another, she tries to escape by jumping from the back of the truck.\u00a0 She lands in a mined field, but is able to escape unscathed.\u00a0 She joins a group of street children and scavenges off rubbish tips to survive. (Both the banning of landmines and help for street children are of course issues that we Soroptimists have<\/em> campaigned for recently.)<\/em>\u00a0Sadly, Holly<\/em> ends up back in the clutches of her \u2018owners’ and is taken to a higher class establishment where she is drugged into submission.<\/p>\n It would be a shame to give away the ending of the film, as we hope to obtain a DVD of \u2018Holly’ to show fellow members.\u00a0 But needless to say, it isn’t a \u2018and they all lived happily ever after’ scenario.<\/p>\n =========<\/p>\n The screening was followed by a question and answer session.<\/p>\n The Four panelists were:<\/p>\n Guy Jacobson*\u00a0– the Writer\/Producer of ‘Holly’,<\/em>former attorney and investment banker andhuman rights activist. Utilising his background in Law and Economics, Jacobson founded the RedLightChildren Campaign that works to eliminate the demand for child exploitation, focusing on legislation, enforcement, and the rule of law.\u00a0 For his tireless efforts to in the fight against child sex trafficking, in 2008 he was awarded the US State Department’s prestigious Global Hero Award.<\/p>\n Christine Beddoe – the UK representative of the international ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking) network.\u00a0 Amongst other roles, she is an advisor on the protection of children from exploitation in tourism to the UN World Tourism Org. and to the European Economic and Social Council.<\/p>\n Parosha Chandran is an award-winning human rights barrister, whose work has led to several advances in the law governing victims of human trafficking.\u00a0 She has won the Law Society’s Barrister of the Year Award (2008) and the Society of Asian Lawyers’ Pro Bono\/Human Rights Lawyer of the Year Award (2009).\u00a0 She works closely with many organisations, including the POPPY project.\u00a0 Since 2004, she has achieved asylum status for the majority of women supported by this initiative.<\/p>\n Terry Tennans is the UK Director of International Justice Mission (IJM), which is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.\u00a0 IJM has field offices in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and Latin America, where lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.<\/p>\n Comments and issues that have stayed in the mind are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *<\/em><\/strong>Guy Jacobson cannot return to Cambodia.\u00a0 His life would be in danger, as some of the scenes were shot in Mafia run brothels – albeit with a heavy police and security guard.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Details of the following organisations and initiatives were given:<\/p>\n Other groups working to fight trafficking and human exploitation:<\/p>\n Soroptimist International of Epsom & District<\/em>: www.soroptimist-gbi.org\/epsom-and-district\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\n2009 also saw the launch of The Body Shop Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream. Proceeds from each hand cream sold are donated to ECPAT and other organisations that support victims of trafficking and help to fund prevention programmes. \u00a31m has already been raised.<\/p>\n\n
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